Kings at Coyotes: Brownout

Heading into Thursday night’s game against the Arizona Coyotes, the Kings hadn’t managed a win in Glendale in five straight visits. In October the Kings at least left the arena with a point in OT, but there hasn’t been cause for Kings fans to celebrate them playing in Arizona since early 2013.

Martin Jones got the start in goal, his first against the Coyotes, and he had to make a couple big saves early. Though the Kings had more shot attempts in the initial two minutes, the Coyotes then took over for a seven or eight minute stretch until… Dustin Brown.

 
Ahhh, if only Michal Rozsival was there to see it. The Kings picked up some momentum from the captain’s fortune and their play improved as the game progressed.

Inconsistent possession work from the Kings has left me so thirsty for times when they just steamroll teams. It happened during this Coyotes game.

Let’s take a look at two representative works of art:

So gorgeous.

Frame this immediately. Make the Coyotes raise a banner with this printed on it.

The Kings ended the game having owned 59 percent of the shot attempts at 5v5. That’s 64 shots for and 43 against. Jones was solid in goal, and Dustin Brown picked up three points. He had two goals and one assist, which is amazing because the Coyotes color commentator started the broadcast by saying over a shot of Brown on the bench, “There’s a guy a lot of Coyotes fans would love to pop in the mouth.”

Bring it on!

Brown wasn’t the only Kings player who had a good night. Alec Martinez turned in another commendable performance in his second game since returning from injury. He scored a goal, earned an assist, and finished the night with a +7 even strength Corsi differential.

Mike Richards was the somewhat surprising possession hero of he night. At even strength he was on the ice for 18 Kings shot attempts and only 5 against.

The Coyotes pulled goaltender Mike Smith after the Kings third goal, but then LA boys just grabbed a fourth against backup Devan Dubnyk. Though Brown didn’t earn a point on that one, he was the player who created the screen.

Four goals, a perfect save percentage, possession domination, and 43 shots on goal? This is the Kings team a lot of fans have been hoping to see every night. More, please!